Category: Resource Reviews

In This Issue: The case for better storytelling; a journey into the jungle

1. VIDEO: “YembiYembi” Documents Journey into the Jungle
2. BOOK: “Go Tell It” Makes the Case for Better Storytelling
3. FREE DOWNLOAD: “Born to Fly” Offers Anti-trafficking Curriculum
4. EVENTS: Ministry Development Experiences for Women in Missions
5. ARTICLES: Eyewitnesses to the Modern Age of Persecution
6. CALENDAR: June Events

EDITOR’S NOTE: Changes at Missions Catalyst

This edition of Missions Catalyst is the first we’ve sent through Mailchimp. This change in service providers will help us bring you emails that can be read more easily on a phone or mobile device. While we’re at it, we’ll make a few other design changes (and similar improvements to our website). If you have any problems, please let us know!

We’d also be glad to have your feedback or suggestions about content or design, and welcome your comment on any of the items below.

Source: New Tribes Mission and Jungle Light Studios

This recently released, free, 30-minute documentary tells the story of an American family’s journey into pioneering ministry with an isolated tribal group in Papua New Guinea. It includes scenes of their preparation, adjustment, evangelism, and church planting, leading to the completion and distribution of a translation of the New Testament in the local language.

Though many of today’s missionaries serve in places where you don’t need to borrow a dugout canoe and clear land for an airstrip, remote tribes like the Yembi still need to hear the gospel message. Could you use this well-crafted video with your church or group?

» Watch YembiYembi – Unto the Nations and other videos from New Tribes.

» You might also be interested in a video we reviewed previously. Never the Same portrays the Richardson family’s return to Papua New Guinea 50 years after the events described in “Peace Child” (Pioneers).

Source: Moody Collective

Go Tell It: How – and Why – to Report God’s Stories in Words, Photos, and Videos, by Jim Killam and Lincoln Brunner, Moody Publishers, 2014, 165 pages.

This slim volume is designed to equip readers and writers to tell compelling stories that allow others to see what God is doing in the world. The authors, journalists who now work for the mission agency ReachGlobal, make a case for excellence in reporting. They cover responsibly researching and interviewing, crafting your story, engaging your audience, setting a scene with details and dialogue, and honoring your sources, as well as nuts and bolts like choosing equipment, preparing for a video shoot, setting up sound and lighting, and more.

Go Tell It includes lots of helpful examples and insights from the authors’ own work, a variety of photographers and videographers, and writers like David Aikman (who wrote the foreword) and the gospel writer Luke (who, they point out, is a master journalist).

I found this book inspiring – a refresher course on things I learned in journalism classes decades ago. Although it also comes recommended for short-term and long-term missionaries who write newsletters or give presentations, it has more to offer those who create communication pieces on behalf of a ministry or group – from a volunteer making the mission trip video for your church to an intern in a mission agency’s communication department. A narrow audience, perhaps, but one that may find this book a gem.

» Get this book from Amazon (or elsewhere) for US$10.35 (US$8.09 for the Kindle edition). See the publisher’s website to learn more or read a generous excerpt.

» See also The Art of Storytelling: Easy Steps to Presenting an Unforgettable Story, by John Walsh.

Source: Born2Fly International

The Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking recently released a Portuguese translation of its widely used trafficking-prevention curriculum – just in time for this summer’s World Cup in Brazil. Organizations in Brazil that work with teens and children are encouraged to download the free curriculum.

“Whenever there’s a large international sporting event – such as the World Cup, Super Bowl, or Olympics – it’s not only fans who show up, but also human traffickers,” says Diana Scimone, president of Born2Fly. “Our goal is to reach kids before the traffickers do.”

Born2Fly is a world leader in child-trafficking prevention curriculum, producing numerous materials for children and teens in English, Spanish, Russian, Thai, Hindi, Chinese, and other languages.

The six-session trafficking prevention program for children and teenagers includes a 70-page teaching program with age-appropriate material and activities for young children and teens, a companion book that tells an allegory about trafficking without words, and additional lesson material for Christian schools.

» Learn more or download the materials. Readers might also be interested in Diane Scimone’s book, Audacious: The Bold, Brave, Brazen Plan to Shut Down the Global Child Sex Industry.

Source: Women’s Development Track

Though many personal and professional Christian growth opportunities are open to women as well as men, many women are less able to participate, due to life circumstances and obligations. Others prefer a woman-to-woman mentoring environment.

The Women’s Development Track is an inter-agency effort to provide a spectrum of options to encourage and equip women in Christian ministry so that more women may gain confidence and vision to step into what God has set before them. One-week modules are designed for women with various gifts and in different stages of life and are facilitated by experienced women as mentors. Available modules focus on topics related to personal growth and discovery, ministry skills, and Bible and theology.

» Learn more or sign up.

Source: Christian History Institute

The Christian History Institute, in partnership with Voice of the Martyrs, has published a special edition of their quarterly magazine, Christian History, with accounts and analysis of the persecution of Christians in the modern era. Lots of compelling articles. It may especially be useful for educators. The free, full-color magazine is available online or in print.

» Learn more, subscribe, or read the articles.

Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar

June 1, Internet Evangelism Day (global). Annual.

June 2-4, Crisis Management Seminar (Warrenton, MO, USA). Training for those who lead mission organizations in responding to crisis situations. Followed by a Field Security Seminar for on-the-ground personnel in dangerous locations.

June 2 to August 24, Encountering the World of Islam (online). Twelve-week class will help you discover God’s heart for Muslims. Next class starts September 8.

June 5, Ukraine in Disarray – What’s What and What’s Next for Its Churches and Its Missionaries? (online). Webinar provided by Missio Nexus.

June 8, Global Day of Prayer (international).

June 10-20, Refresh! (Grenoble, France). Retreat for cross-cultural workers, provided by Heartstream Resources.

June 15, World Refugee Sunday (international). Churches praying for refugees and displaced people. Some also observing this event June 22.

June 16-20, International Conference on Computing and Mission (Warrenton, MO, USA). Annual event.

June 19-27, Summer Institute on Islam (South Hamilton, MA, USA). Training event facilitated by Pioneers.

June 20-22, American Society for Missiology (St. Paul, MN, USA). Annual meeting.

June 21-28, Sahara Challenge (St. Paul, MN, USA). Intensive training for ministry to Muslims, from Crescent Project.

June 25 to July 5, “Breathe” Conference (Switzerland). A ten-day retreat designed to refresh and renew cross-cultural workers. Provided by Catalyst International.

June 27-30, GOFest (Bulstrode, Bucks, UK). Free, annual mission festival for all ages.

June 28 to July 27, 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World (global). Join the millions of Christians around the world who have participated in this largest ongoing international prayer focus on the Muslim world.

June 29 to July 9, Refresh! (Thailand). Retreat for cross-cultural workers, provided by Heartstream Resources.

» View the complete calendar and/or submit an item.

In This Issue: Videos, books, events, and more

• VIDEO: How Does Translation Work?
• BOOKS: Three Tools for Your Toolbox
• CURRICULUM: Count for Zero
• READERS WRITE: More Practical Ideas on Praying for the World
• EVENTS: May Calendar

Source: The Seed Company

Whether you know a little or a lot about what it takes to translate the Bible into another language, you’ll probably learn something from the Seed Company’s recent, snappy overview, How Does Translation Work? It’s about five minutes long. Maybe you could show it to your church, family, group, or class as well.

» See also the music video Word of God.

Source: GMI

Our friends at GMI have recently published three short, informative books that might be good tools for you as you seek out, mobilize, and equip tomorrow’s kingdom workers:

1. Searching to Serve: Recruiting Kingdom Workers Online, by James Nelson with Carla Foote. GMI Books, 2014. 78 pages.

Based on 2013 research previously published in GMI’s Agency Web Review report, Searching to Serve describes five kinds of people who look online for mission service opportunities and what they like and are looking for on mission agency websites. It provides many simple suggestions for tailoring your website (and social media activity) for various kinds of seekers in order to attract, engage, and retain the interest of the greatest number of the most qualified candidates. Very practical.

» Learn more or get the book from GMI for US$9.95; US$4.99 for the ebook edition.

2. Seeing Your World: 10 Key Global Shifts That Will Change the Way You Serve, by Andy Butcher. GMI Books, 2014. 70 pages.

Trends in migration, religion, education, technology, and more are transforming people, nations, and the ways the Great Commission is carried out. Butcher summarizes key points from GMI’s Global Briefing presentation and illustrates each trend with quotes and commentary from a different Christian leader, explaining how these shifts are forcing them to rethink the ways they serve. Illustrated with helpful charts and maps.

Seeing Your World is designed to be affordable and readable enough to give as a gift or use as a conversation starter, though readers may also want to also dig deeper into each subject.

» Learn more or get the book from GMI for US$9.99; $4.99 for the ebook edition.

3. Crossing Cultures with Ruth: Lessons on Thriving in Missions, by James Nelson. GMI Books, 2014. 177 pages.

What helps cross-cultural workers, those who launch out and say “your people shall be my people,” transition well and come to a place of effective ministry? Author James Nelson finds lessons for contemporary cross-cultural workers in the ancient book of Ruth, seeing in Ruth’s story many of the same strengths that make missionaries successful.

“The more I studied the book of Ruth,” says Nelson, “I began to see her as a teacher, mentor, and even companion in cross-cultural service. For interns and new missionaries, Ruth could be a memorable role model for the ministry techniques they were learning.”

Crossing Cultures with Ruth also includes insights from Nelson’s years of work researching “fruitful practices” of church planters working in the Muslim world (also documented in From Seed to Fruit and Where There Was No Church). I found this book winsome and intriguing and am already scheming ways to use the contents as I teach and write.

» Learn more or get the book from GMI for US$14.99; US$9.99 for the ebook edition.

Think you can use all three? Contact GMI about bulk discounts. “The idea is that all three of these resources together help an agency to recruit online better, engage new recruits with the global realities of mission, and help new missionaries prepare for cross-cultural service,” says president and CEO Jon Hirsh.